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Hybrid working: organisational development
Hybrid working: organisational development

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2.3 Explore your organisation’s external factors

As we are still operating in an uncertain world, understanding your external environment is critical. A simple framework for analysing your environment is the PESTLE model. It is designed to help explore the key external factors that might influence your organisations – Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal and Environmental.

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Figure 7: PESTLE model for analysis. Source: Impact Innovation (no date) [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)]
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Image shows PESTLE model, which represents the different external driving forces that characterise the external environment. Each letter is expanded in a box with examples underneath.

Political – Current tax policy; Brexit; Trade policies; Political stability; Government policy; Climate Change Acts. Economical – Inflation rate; Exchange rates; Economic growth; Interest rates; Disposable income; Unemployment rate. Social – Lifestyle attitudes; Cultural barriers; Population growth; Population age; Health consciousness; Target demographics. Technological – Level of innovation; Automation; Technological awareness; Cybersecurity; Technological change; Internet availability/speed. Legal – Employment laws; Discrimination laws; Health and safety; Copyright protection; Consumer safety. Environmental – Weather; Climate change; Environmental policies; NGO pressure; Recycling; Pollution; Sustainability; Waste disposal; Energy consumption.

Figure 7: PESTLE model for analysis. Source: Impact Innovation (no date)

This model allows you to consider your context in relation to your organisational environment and think about the impact the control and influence external factors can have. It should stimulate an organisation to research these areas further.

Activity 4: Evaluate your environment

Timing: 15 minutes

Using the PESTLE model for analysis, evaluate the environment you are operating in and drawing on the problems you identified in the previous activity. You may wish to use the template provided.

If you are unfamiliar with using the PESTLE model, the CIPD website provides a useful overview and video on the PESTLE analysis.

While you were thinking about the environment you are operating in and what might pose as a problem, you may have considered the importance of sustainability and wellbeing. We explore this in more detail in the next section of the course.